Myth-making and the Historical Imagination: An Investigation of the Historiography of Islamic Iberia Through Castilian Literature

Gaston Jean-Xavier Arze Springfield, Virginia

BA English, University of Virginia, 2017

A Thesis presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Master of Arts

Department of Religious Studies

University of Virginia December, 2018

Dr. Ahmed H. al-Rahim Dr. E. Michael Gerli

2

1. Introduction

A historical narrative is thus necessarily a mixture of adequately and inadequately explained events, a congeries of established and inferred facts, at once a representation that is an interpretation and an interpretation that passes for an explanation of the whole process mirrored in the narrative. Hayden White, Tropics of Discourse (1978).

The history of Islam in is a deeply contested historical narrative, whose interpretation has significant implications for Spain’s perception of its national identity, as well as its historical memory, and modern political discourse. The rejection of Islamic Iberia plays an important role in the modern understanding of the nascence of the Spanish state. This is because, the history of medieval Iberia is largely framed as an 800-year struggle for independence from invading

Muslims. This historical narrative is obviously at odds with the historical presence of the religion of Islam, the irrefutable linguistic contact between and Peninsular Romance, and the role of Arabic and Arabic sources in Iberia’s rich literary history. The aforementioned interpretation of the history of the also rejects the influence that Islam played in the creation of identities unique to the peninsula: namely, the Mudéjars, the Moriscos and the Mozarabs. That being said, this paper will not be concerned with proving the extent of shared cultural contact between the peninsular Abrahamic traditions. Instead, the express goal of this thesis will be to identify the markers of the rigid Spanish national identity, and the motivations for the exclusion of Islamic Spain from 20th and 21st century conceptions of the Spanish historical memory. This will be accomplished by identifying, in the medieval Iberian literary tradition, the ideological predecessors of 20th century philologists, with an emphasis on the work of Ramón Menéndez 3

Pidal. Finally, the reemergence of these questions in modern political discourses will also be considered.

This history of present-day Spain is essentially the history of a “religious sensibility”, as well as the “grandeur, the misery, and the paralysis” that resulted from it1. From this idea, a singular historical narrative has arisen. This dominant narrative is an ideologically Catholic narrative, forged from the imperial and material successes of the Castilian crown. In reality, there is little besides the imperial grip of the which has ever united the entirety of the what we now call Spain. However, the creation of a homogenous Catholic identity has long been, and continues to be, a priority of the Castilian ruling class, and this is made apparent in both the historiographic and literary traditions of Castile.

This sentiment is present in Alfonso X’s historiographical work of the Spanish people, the

General Estoria, and the mythologized genesis of Catholic Spain presented in it has not fully faded from the national identity ever since. This historical memory of the Spanish people has long been characterized by what Americo Castro calls “the myth of a universal empire sustained by the Catholic faith” (8)2. This is part of a carefully constructed interpretation, or schema, which until quite recently has been left largely unchallenged. Respected Spanish philologists, such

Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo and Ramón Menéndez Pidal, have worked to affirm the orthodox

Castilian historiography of the Iberian Peninsula by effectively separating ‘Islamic’ and

‘Christian Spain’ into discrete objects of history. Whereas other, more contemporary, scholars such as Brian Catlos have argued that human histories have shown themselves to be “too complex to be reduced to living caricatures of their religious identities” and that conflicts on the

1 Castro, Américo. The Structure of Spanish History, trans. Edmund King (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954), 121 2 Ibid. 4

Iberian Peninsula were waged more often within faith communities than between them3. This unfortunate truth, however, does not make for as compelling of a basis for a national mythos as does an ideological war against a monolithic enemy. It is from this myth that the ideology of what is presently known as the ‘’ shifted from one of the reclamation of formerly

Christian lands, to one of domination and subjugation over Islam. The term ‘Reconquista’ itself is a product of this process, and requires much investigation, however, it is necessary that we return to these questions within the context of the litereary and historiographical works which will be discussed later. This mythologized historiography will be the primary concern of that section of this essay, but special attention will be paid to the ways in which it has been distorted for power and political gain.

The present-day Kingdom of Spain, perhaps more so than most other European , locates its historical memory within a confluence of opposing historical interpretations. There are those who seek to exalt the Reconquista, while simultaneously rejecting al-Andalus4. This interpretation is most closely associated with the Conservatives in Spanish politics, who rely on

Menéndez Pidal’s essentialized depiction of Islamic Iberia. There are also those who seek to romantically re-characterize Islamic Spain as a land of tolerance, which should be celebrated, and serve as a model for today’s society. Naturally, this position is held by many center and left- leaning individuals. This ideology gained popularity more recently than, and largely in response to, the former5. Neither interpretation is entirely faithful to the reality of everyday life within a member state of the medieval Mediterranean milieu. And so, this paper does not seek to explicitly support either of these positions, as they are both rooted in a contentious nationalist

3 Catlos, Brian A. Kingdoms of Faith: A New History of Islamic Spain (New York: Basic Books, 2018), 4-5. 4 García-Sanjuán, Alejandro. Rejecting al-Andalus, exalting the Reconquista: historical memory in contemporary Spain. Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, 10:1, 2018. 5 Ibid., 127-8. 5 historiography—a historiography that has been semi-mythologized through its acceptance of prejudice, myth, and anachronism. However, these ideologies still linger within Spanish academia and politics, and this paper is concerned with identifying links between medieval

Castilian texts which attempted to draw direct links, real or imagined, between the Christian crowns and their preferred antecedents: the Visigothic kingdoms and the Western Roman

Empire. As this was fundamental in the process of creating a historical narrative that could justifiably exclude al-Andalus, and its Islamized history, from the overwhelmingly Catholic

Castilian Spanish identity that emerged. This conflict is part of a larger one which has characterized the development of the academic fields of historiography, in general, and Spanish

Arabism specifically. That conflict is one of historical authority— over which group “claim the right to determine of what a ‘realistic’ representation of social reality might consist of”6.

One of the main objectives of this paper is to investigate the origins of modern conceptions of what it means to be Spanish. It does not seek to answer this question, but rather to understand how the answer to question has developed over time.

We often conceive of histories as being uninterrupted and congruous through time, from pre- history to the contemporary. But this is simply not so. It leads us to believe that “everything that happened on the soil now called Spain is Spanish, as that everything that existed on the soil of ancient Italy is Italian”7 But this assumption is logically inoperative. Are we to believe that the cave paintings of Altamira belong to the same Hispanic identity as did St. Isidore of ?

And what of Cervantes, who belonged to an entirely different Hispanic world than St. Isidore?

6 White, Hayden. “Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe,” Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. p. 46 7 Castro, Américo. The Spaniards: An Introduction to their History, trans. Willard F. King and Selma Margaretten (Berkley: University of California Press, 1971) 31. 6

Or ibn Rushd for that matter? These may seem like trivial distinctions, but it is only through this investigation of semantics that we can produce the limits of its use. This problem is difficult to answer definitively, but we can approach an answer through the study, and use, of philology.

2. Alfonso X el Sabio’s and Estoria de España

The second section of this essay is focused on historical, ideological, and literary foundations of the Castilian national historiography. First, it will provide the necessary historical background for understanding the imperial aspiration of (d. 1284) both within, and beyond, the Iberian Peninsula. Then, it will track, the transmission, and development of the national mythos from its Visigothic foundations up to the reign of Alfonso X. Alfonso’s influence on the historiography of Spain will be of particular interest, as his universal historiographies have been largely accepted into the historical imagination of the Spanish people.

The two works which will be primarily considered, and which are attributed to Alfonso, are the

General Estoria8 and the Estoria de España9. However, the Hispanic historiographic tradition to which these works belong will also be investigated. As a part of this, the personification of Spain in major historiographical works will be considered.

2.1. Alfonso X and the Crown of All Christendom

8 The General Estoria, which was published in parts (of which, most parts only exist from later copies) by the Toldeo School of Translators under Alfonso’s patronage, sought to establish a universal and its people. Among many other thing, its large historical scope narrates the story of creation, the history of non- Jewish people, the Greco-Roman foundations of Hispania, and the collapse of the Visigothic empire. 9 Similarly, the Estoria de España creates a biblical history in which the Spanish tradition is intentionally rooted. Then, it provides a history of Ancient and Visigothic Hispania— both of which are considered to be predecessors to Christian kings of the Iberian Peninsula. Then the history of the kingdoms of Asturias, Castile, and León recounted. One should note that the level of detail and specificity attributed to each phase of this history increases as one approaches its 13th century date of composition. 7

Alfonso X’s reign is most often remembered for its lofty aspirations, and its complete collapse, but such a focus on Alfonso’s kingship obscures the lasting cultural significance that

Alfonso the Humanist had on his people, and how they came to understand themselves.

This section is primarily concerned with explaining Alfonso X’s motivations for pursuing the imperial crown of the Holy Roman empire10; it will attempt to outline the history of Alfonso’s enduring pursuit of the imperial title, which lasted until at least 127511. It will not attempt to explain what resulted from his failed attempts at the crown, and the subsequent fall from grace, he experienced.

His intellectual pursuits, from which the title “el Sabio12” is derived, were some of the most ambitious in late Medieval Europe, and yet, by the end of his reign they would be used to mock

Alfonso’s rule and his quest for the imperial crown. But for too long his flamboyance, his intellectual goals, and his failure to secure the crown of the have been the primary loci of Alfonsine scholarship. Instead, the aim of this work will be to investigate the effects of Alfonso’s imperial aspirations, with a focus on their cultural, ideological, and historiographic impacts on the development of the Spanish historical imagination.

2.2. Genealogical Claims and the Birth of an Empire

Alfonso el Sabio’s inherited his claims to the imperial kingdom of the Romans through his

10 Throughout Alfonso X, The Learned, Martínez chooses to refer to the Holy Roman Empire as the “Holy Roman-Germanic Empire”— and while it may be a more accurate description of the multi-ethnic complex we generally refer to as “the Holy Roman Empire”, I opt for the common description instead, for the sake of clarity. 11 Martínez, Salvador H. Alfonso X, the Learned: A Biography, trans. Odile Cisneros (Leiden: Brill, 2010) 121. 12 Perhaps Alfonso X’s other, lesser known, title illustrates his intellectual, and especially scientific, pursuits more clearly. This title is “el Astrólogo,” which means ‘the Astrologer’. It refers to his passion for , and his patronage of the highly influential . 8 mother, Elisabeth of Swabia, renamed Beatrice upon marriage. Queen Beatrice of Swabia, in turn, was the fourth daughter of Phillip of Swabia, of the House . These familial ties to the Holy Roman Empire led to Alfonso’s unsuccessful bid for the crown, beginning in

1256, and lasting until 1275. These years would mark an imperial and political campaign that would shape the direction of both his reign and legacy.

Before the death of William of Holland in 1256, the whole Hohenstaufen stock had been disfavored by the Church, and were unlikely contenders for the throne. William of Holland was selected over Conrad IV of Hohenstaufen, as two years prior to his unexpected death. Even though the whole of house Hohenstaufen had previously been characterized as a “stock of vipers” under Conrad’s father’s reign, that of Frederick II (d. 1250),

William’s unexpected death created a new crisis of succession, to which the heirs of the House

Hohenstaufen had a legitimate claim13.

Yet, given his legitimate claims to the imperial throne, Alfonso’s candidacy was a long-shot from the get go. To begin with, he did not even have the material claims to launch a successful candidacy. And before Alfonso’s campaign, no Hispanic ruler had entertained a bid for the kingship of all Christendom. In order to strengthen his claims to the title, he would need to build upon his father’s ambitions and incorporate the neighboring kingdoms into the fold of the burgeoning Castile. He would also need to expand his network of political allies, both at home and abroad. And he would need to bolster the ranks of his army14.

2.2.1. The Long Road of Alfonso’s ‘Ida al Imperio’

13 Ibid. 131-2. 14 Ibid. 9

Alfonso’s German ancestry was well-recorded in Medieval genealogies, and so his ambitions to reign over the Holy Roman Empire were apparent before he had even inherited the Castilian

Crown in 1252. One of his first attempts to expand the land claims of Castile was his invasion of

Portugal, which began in the year following his coronation. This invasion was a significant display of the Crown’s military power and was part of Alfonso’ larger imperial vision. This vision would ultimately culminate in Alfonso’s infamous failed invasion of the Marinid emirate in Morocco15. While his “African crusade,” as it has since been named, produced little more than the sacking and temporary occupation of Salé, a city which stands directly across the river from the modern capital of Rabat, it would come to cost Alfonso greatly down the road16.

The reason for this African crusade was two-fold: first, it had been a desire of his father’s, who, on his deathbed, reminded his son this unfinished project17, and second, it would greatly ingratiate Alfonso with the papacy in his quest for the imperial crown, as there was a distinct prestige associated with reconquering the ancient territories of Christendom in North

Africa18. In the idea of this African crusade, there were also parallels with the larger Christian desire of taking . This is evidenced by a letter Alfonso sent to Jaime of Aragon, dated

April 3, 1260 at Lérida, which requests his participation in the crusade “against the Saracens” 19.

Although the city of Salé was an unlikely target for such a crusade, given the Visigothic presence in other cities in the 8th century, such as , it was a “commercial emporium”, and as such, would provide the raiders with a large sum of booty20. In September of 1260, the port of Salé fell

15 O’Callaghan, Joseph F. A History of Medieval Spain (London: Cornell University Press, 1975), 364. 16 O’Callaghan, Joseph F. Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia, 1st ed., ed. E. Michael Gerli, “Alfonso X, el Sabio, King of Castile and León, Political History.” (London: Routledge, 2003) 73. 17 E. Dufourcq “Un project castillant du XIII siècle: la croisade d’Afrique” Revue d’histoire et de civilization du Maghreb, (1966) Vol. 1, No. 3, 26-51. 18 Martínez, Alfonso X, the Learned, 159-160. 19 ‘Saracen’ is an outdated term used to refer to a Muslim, which was most commonly employed in the time of the Crusades. Ibid. 20 Ibid. 10 to the invading Christian armies, and according to multiple Islamic sources, the Christians committed many atrocities: they pillaged and looted, they took prisoners back to sell into slavery, and they “killed the men of Salé and raped the women”21. Ultimately though, this sacking did not bring Alfonso the prestige he desired, nor did it significantly benefit the kingdom materially, it only served to “provoke the enmity of the Marinids”22. This did not discourage him entirely however, as he again launched an attack on the small Muslim kingdom of Niebla in the summer of 1261. As a part of the recently conquered Algarve23, Niebla paid tribute to Castile in exchange for its autonomy, but Alfonso justified his invasion through its history as a former Visgothic territory24. Encouraged by their success in Niebla, the Christian armies soon began to expand— but because of a new domestic crisis they would not be able to enjoy their spoils of war for very long25.

The African crusade resulted in the defection of one of Alfonso’s father’s strongest allies:

Mohamed Ibn Yusuf Ibn Nasr, king of Granada26. Ibn Nasr had allied himself with the king of

Murcia, and together they planned an uprising against Alfonso, which would project their borders back to what they had been before the reign of Fernando III (1199/1201-1252). This

21 Ibid. 22 O’Callaghan, Joseph F, A History of Medieval Spain, 162. 23 The use of the term ‘’ can refer either to the geographic region of Southern , or the — a nominal kingdom which existed within the until 1910. In this instance, it is the Kingdom of the Algarve which is intended. The region of the Algarve, like Al-Andalus, is characterized by its stronger cultural and linguistic ties to the former Arab and North African colonizers than their northern counterparts. 24 O’Callaghan, Joseph F, A History of Medieval Spain, 162. 25 Ibid., 163 26 Ibid., 164 11

Mudéjar rebellion temporarily created chaos in the cortes27, but was put down after Alfonso allied himself with the arraeces (chiefs) of Guadix and Málaga28.

Although the revolt of the Mudéjars was verily repressed, this did not discount the threat of the Islamic kingdoms to the peninsular Christian crowns. Both the tributary kingdoms and the newly conquered lands in al-Andalus and the Algarve still posed grave threats to the sovereignty of the Alfonso X, Alfonso IV of Portugal, and Jaime I of Aragon. And because the Catalan king was reluctant to cooperate with Alfonso, Alfonso was forced to reconcile with the king whose kingdom he had just attempted to invade. In 1267, this resulted in the Treaty of , which granted Castile the towns of Aracena, Moura, Serpa, Marvão, Ayamonte, and Valencia de

Alcántara, as well as the service of fifty knights29. In return, Alfonso’s court was forced to resign their claims to the castles and titles of the newly conquered Algarve, and Alfonso III of Portugal agreed to marry Alfonso X’s illegitimate daughter, Beatrice of Castile30. However, as soon as this tenuous peace was established between the Christian kingdoms, a new domestic threat emerged— one that could end Alfonso el Sabio’s imperial candidacy before it had even begun.

2.2.2. Roman Law and the Revolt of the Nobles

Alfonso’s affinity for the Roman code was part of the larger effort to connect his people to the Roman and Visigothic eras of Spanish history, as this would serve him well if he were ever to be unanimously recognized as . He needed his subjects, as well as his

27 Literally translates as ‘courts’. The cortes were assemblies of wealthy nobles with the king that allowed for their input on certain matters of state. This was permitted so as to supplement the crown’s financial burdens which could not be offset through taxation alone. In Castile, the presence of the cortes is recorded as having met in the early thirteenth century. For more on the cortes, see: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. “Cortes” (Online: Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 2017). 28 O’Callaghan, Joseph F, A History of Medieval Spain, 166-168 29 Ibid., 369. 30 Ibid. 12 fellow crowned leaders, to understand the Spanish empire as a direct descendant of the Romans who had once ruled over Iberia. As a part of this effort, the system of laws composed in Castilian vernacular now known as Las were codified, ostensibly for the purpose of standardizing the legal system of the empire31. In response to this, the nobles and knights of

Alfonso’s court (who had benefitted tremendously under the old system) attempted a coup, of sorts, in response to the many wrongs they felt the Castilian King had committed against them.

According to Joseph O’Callaghan:

“[…] keenly aware of [Alfonso’s] predilection for Roman law, they accused him of

contravening the old laws; of failing to maintain in his court alcaldes de Castilla or alcaldes

de fijosdalgo, who would judge their fellow nobles— an implied objection to the presence of

Roman legists in the court (…); (…) of levying the alcabala, a new tax on merchandise

collected in for the repair of the city walls; (…) of yielding Castilian claims to the

Algarve; of expending vast sums of money to secure the imperial throne32 (…)”

Alfonso was also accused of “bringing great poverty to the kingdoms of León and Castile,” and this was likely the case, as he was certainly guilty of causing run-away inflation within the two kingdoms33. These injuries being too much to bear for many within the Castilian cortes, many nobles revolted— first seeking to conspire with the Christian king Henry of Navarre, who demurred after a marriage was arranged which would tie his family to Alfonso’s, before then turning to Ibn al-Ahmar Ibn Nasr, king of Granada and Alfonso’s former ally34. Ibn Al-Ahmar

31 Las Sietes Partidas, and its earlier drafts, the Libro de los Leyes, and the Espéculo de las Leyes, were heavily influenced by the Roman code. Their inclusion over the native legal system of the fueros (compilations of regional and/or local laws), was predominately a political act aimed at centralizing and concentrating power in the king, and a part of Alfonso X’s attempts to further Romanize Castilian culture. And the use of Castilian vernacular was no fluke. It was part of Alfonso’s attempt to establish as Castilian the imperial language of the empire he was in the process of building. 32 O’Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain, 372 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid., 373 13 was more than willing to cooperate with the defecting nobles, but he also contemporaneously appealed to the Marinid emir of , Abu Yusuf, as “a safeguard against future developments”35. This coalition against Alfonso never amounted to an armed conflict, likely because the mere threat of it was enough to force Alfonso to concede to some of their demands.

This concession occurred in 1272 in Burgos, where one of the grievances the nobles had addressed the cortes was the issue of the new royal law of the realm. One of these concessions was the reinstating of the traditional system of fueros36. Unfortunately, it was these internal issues which most severely handicapped Alfonso’s ability to take on the “ida al imperio”, or the

“journey to the empire”, as his reforms in both law and taxation were “the fundamental reasons for the steady growth of opposition within the kingdom”37. In this same year, Richard of

Cornwall died, providing Alfonso with the best opportunity to ascend to the kingship he could have hoped for, given his tertiary relation to the house of Hohenstaufen. In order to capitalize on this, Alfonso capitulated to the demands of his court, for he needed access to large sums of capital in order to present himself as a viable candidate.

Much of this money would go, first to Alfonso’s failed invasion of the Almohad Empire in 1260, and then, to defend against the four year campaign the Marinid emirate Abu Yusuf engaged in against Castile, beginning in 1275. The year 1275 is crucial in the history of Alfonso

X’s reign— as it marked the beginning of its unhappy ending. After the nobles returned to his court in 1274, and a relative calm had returned to the realm, Alfonso travelled to Beaucaire in

Occitania at the end of that year38. In May of 1275, he met with Pope Gregory X and “vainly

35 Ibid. 36 Ibid. 37 Ibid. 38 Ibid., 374 14 tried to convince [the pope] to recognize him as Holy Roman Emperor”39. Here, he was informed by Pope Gregory that he had chosen Rudolf of Hapsburg over him, and Alfonso was asked to renounce all imperial ambitions40. At this same time, the emir Abu Yusuf invaded, and in his father’s absence, it was left to the heir to the throne, infante Fernando de la Cerda, to deal with the Moroccan threat. However, he died “suddenly en route to the frontier (…)”41. Alfonso’s second son, Sancho, picked up the reigns, and blockaded Algecriras, effectively severing the line of communication between Abu Yusuf and the Taifa of Granada42. Upon returning from France,

Alfonso offered a truce to Abu Yusuf, who accepted. However, the emir went back on this truce, returning to the peninsula in 1277, and engaging Alfonso’s blockade of in 127843. The loss of both the emperorship, and his first son, left Alfonso’s reign deeply distressed. His authority and ability to manage the affairs of the realm only declined until he died in Seville, in

April of 128444.

Although he was ultimately unsuccessful in his bid for the Holy Roman Empire, the products of his campaign had a material effect on cultural sphere of the Castilian empire, and by extension, the -state it would grow into. Of these, few were as significant as the Toledo

School of Translators that he patronized. While it is not possible to fairly represent the full scope of their work, the following sections will focus on perhaps their most famous work: the General

Estoria. The corpus of the General Estoria is so large that, to endeavor to analyze the entirety of

39 O’Callaghan, Joseph F. Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia, 1st ed., ed. E. Michael Gerli, “Alfonso X, el Sabio, King of Castile and León, Political History.” (London: Routledge, 2003) 73. 40 A History of Medieval Spain, O’Callaghan. 374-5. 41 O’Callaghan, Joseph F. Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia, 1st ed., ed. E. Michael Gerli, “Alfonso X, el Sabio, King of Castile and León, Political History.” (London: Routledge, 2003) 73. 42 A History of Medieval Spain, O’Callaghan. 376. 43 Abu Yusuf would return to invade Castile again in 1282, after Alfonso had lost the support of much of his family, and many of his subjects, and ruled in name only. Medieval Iberia: An encyclopedia ed. E. Michael Gerli. 73 44 Ibid. 15 it within the sections which follow would be a fool’s errand. And so, of its many parts, the following will primarily consider the Prosa Historica. This new Castilian historiography, although born of Alfonso’s desire to turn the “tradition of empire in Spain” into a political reality, was deeply consequential in the formation of Spanish historical memory45.

2.3. Creating A New Universal Historiography

The process of creating a national mythos from which a nation or empire can see itself reflected is by no means a small task. However, it is an essential step in the creation of a body politic. This section will investigate the Christian historiographical works which established the

Spanish national mythos, paying particular attention to the two universal histories which were produced under the patronage of Alfonso X. It will address the overarching goals of these works by analyzing parts of their narratives. It will also briefly track the genealogy of Alfonso X’s historiographies. Finally, the personification of the idea of Spain, beginning with St. Isidore’s lamentations on ‘mater Hispania’, and its influence on the historical memory of Spain will be examined.

The General Estoria is an immense work, divided into seven parts, of which, only six were ever completed. While this work was a product of the literary and cultural effort of Alfonso’s quest for the Holy Roman emperorship, it was also a historiographical work, which would later form the basis of the rigid and hegemonic Castilian identity that arose after the last of the Islamic tributary states of Iberia had been conquered in the fifteenth century. It functioned to divorce the

Castilian from the Jewish, Islamic, and pagan traditions who cohabitated the peninsula— such that the people of Castile would see themselves as direct descendants of the Romans, vis á vis,

45 Socarrás, Cayetano J. Socarras. Alfonso X of Castile: A Study on Imperialistic Frustration (Barcelona: Sololibros, 1976) 87. 16 the Germanic . This section is concerned with tracking how this was accomplished through the reorientation of the Castilian historiography, and the personification of Spain “and its presentation as a personalized individual to whom it is possible to ascribe feelings, such as happiness; and the utilization of the eulogy as stimulus for further action to spur the preservation of glory and honor”46. The discussion of the former will focus primarily on the historiographical accounts of the fall of the Visigothic Empire. The later will be concerned with the continuation of the Isidorian tradition47 of eulogizing the idea of Spain, after Islamic rule replaced that of the

Visigoths. From this new historiographic tradition, the Spanish empire was formalized, and the idea of the Reconquista legitimated.

2.3.1. The Mythologizing of Visigothic Spain and the Politics of Knowledge

There are two major ways in which the historiographic works of Alfonso el Sabio, the

Prosa Histórica and the Estoria de España, characterize the Islamic period of Spanish history: first, they categorize the Islamic invasion of the Iberian Peninsula as a form of punishment for the sins of Roderigo, the final Visigothic king of Spain, and second, they intentionally characterize the presence of Islam in Spain as antithetical to everything that once made it

Hispano-Roman. The first of these claims is accomplished through the establishment of a new historical narrative. This narrative begins with the story of the fall of Visigotic empire, which briefly stated, asserts that King Roderigo (d. 711 or 712), the last Visigotic king of Hispania,

46 Ibid., 19. 47 This refers specifically to St. Isidore’s De Laude Spaniae, which directly influenced the style and emotional reference of Alfonso’s own language. It should be acknowledged however, that while this style began with De Laude Spaniae, it was not popularized by St. Isidore. The “two famous proto-historians” who popularized Isidore’s elegiac style were Lucas, of Túy, and Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, archbishop of Toledo. Alfonso X of Castile. Socarrás, Alfonso X of Castile, 18-19. 17 raped the daughter48 of Count Julian49, the governor of Ceuta, while she was being educated at his court in Seville, and in so doing, brought about the fall of the empire. For, after the king’s sexual transgression, Count Julian enacts his revenge by collaborating with the invading Arab and Berber armies, allowing them safe passage through Ceuta and across the , so as to invade Spain50. This account, in all of its various retellings, has remained the prime explanation for the end of Visigothic rule on the Iberian Peninsula. In the years following the expansion of the Islamic empire into the Iberian Peninsula, three competing narratives51 arose to explain the invasion of Spain52. The accounts vary in their construction of events, but the version which was preserved by the Christian kingdoms would eventually come to be the version which formed the very foundations of the Castilian image of itself.

Before recounting the Castilian narrative here, it is important to acknowledge that the creation of historiographies, be they mythologized or not, serve purposes besides historiography

48 In this essay, Count Julian’s daughter will also be referred to as Florinda la Cava. However, the absence of Florinda la Cava’s name is intentional here — as she does not appear as Florinda la Cava before c.1430, with the publication of Pedro de Corral’s Crónica sarracina. The introduction of her personage to the narrative of the fall of the Visigothic empire will be elaborated on in the genealogy of the Christian accounts of this history. 49 Count Julian, while an integral part of the historiography of the fall of Spain to the invading Islamic armies, is little known to the historical record. Without entirely excluding the possibility of his historicity, it should be noted here that some historians have cast doubt on his existence. For more on this, see Collins, Roger The Arab Conquest of Spain (Oxford: Blackwell, 1989) p. 710-797. 50 Alfonso X. Prosa histórica. 4th edición. Letra Hispánicas, ed. Benito Brancaforte. (Catedra , 2011): 89-90. 51 On the versions not covered by this essay, it is significant to note here that the two remaining versions were both penned by Mozarabic (Christians living in Islamic Spain) authors. However, the first, chronologically speaking, which was the first expressed in the Chronica mozárabe del año 754, makes no mention of king Rodrigo, and instead ascribes the sins normally attributed to Rodrigo to his predecessor, Wittiza. In the second Mozarabic chronicle, the Crónica silense (c. 1115, author unknown), the insinuation is that Rodrigo’s loss of the kingdom stems from his overthrowing of Wittiza, and his broken promise to Julian. In this account, he had promised Julian he would marry his unnamed daughter, but took her as his concubine instead. The version of events recounted in the Crónica silense is most similar to the perspective of contemporary Islamic historians. For more on this, see Kinkade, Richard. Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia, 1st ed., ed. E. Michael Gerli, “Rodrigo, Legend of the Last Visigothic King” (London: Routledge, 2003) 711. 52 Ibid. This was accomplished through the marriage of the crowns of Castile and León, as the -León was originally associated with the personified ‘Mater Hispania’. For more on this, see Socarrás, Alfonso X of Castile, 20. 18 for historiography’s sake. In the Castilian narration of the expansion of the Islamic empire into

Iberia, we see an attempt to answer certain political questions— chief among them being who was to blame for the ‘fall of Spain’? For if one is to read the Castilian narrative alone, Spain died in 711 with the fall of the Visigothic empire. It is a tight needle to thread, but the proto- historians53 of the Spanish were able to distance themselves from the individual actions of King Rodrigo, and his fellow “lascivious rulers,” without breaking the imagined connection between the Hispano-Romans and the Castilian crown54. In this telling of things, “the

Castilian-Leonese monarchy (…) was anxious to dissociate itself from the imagined depravity of the last Visigothic kings it was supposedly descended from”55. For, the legacy of the Hispano-

Romans, if it was to be inherited by the medieval Christian Spaniards, had to be facilitated through the Visigothic period— they were the link that connected these two periods of Spanish history. This was likely accomplished by focusing on the individual actors involved56. Biblical analogies were also interwoven into the narrative57, so as to characterize the Arabian and Berber

53 I choose to appropriate Cayetano Socarras’ label of “proto-historian” when speaking about the authors of medieval Spanish historiographies because they were all, to varying degrees, primarily concerned with the creation of an ‘image,’ around which historical data can be fashioned. And while this is the case for all histories, the historiographical accounts of Alfonso el Sabio, as well as his ideological predecessors, are especially significant, for they have by and large been codified as historical and incorporated into the hearts and minds of the Spanish people. And as such, they should be subject to the same level of scrutiny one would expect from any other historical account. 54 Socarrás, Alfonso X of Castile, 20. 55 Ibid. 56 The three Visigothic rulers who bear this burden (to varying degrees, depending on the author of the historiographical work in question) are king Rodrigo (also spelled Roderic), Rodrigo’s predecessor (although importantly, not his blood relative) king Wittiza, and Count Julian (also Yulin, or Olián). Additionally, in later reproductions of this narrative Florinda la Cava was also blamed— in these she is characterized as a temptress, and a whore, and as inviting Roderigo’s advances, and with them, the fall of Spain. 57 On this, Richard Kinkade notes that the kings Wittiza and Rodrigo are portrayed as analogies for Sodom and Gomorrah. See: Kinkade, Richard. Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia, 1st ed., ed. E. Michael Gerli, “Rodrigo, Legend of the Last Visigothic King” (London: Routledge, 2003) 711. Additionally, there are similarities between the biblical Genesis narrative and the historiographic reproductions of Alfonso X. where King Rodrigo functions as a stand-in for Adam, Florinda la Cava for Eve, and the lands of Spain for the Garden of Eden. These ideas are inextricably linked to the re-characterization of the “restauración” (restoration) as the “Reconquista” (reconquest). See: García-Sanjuán, Alejandro. Rejecting al-Andalus, exalting the Reconquista: historical memory in contemporary Spain (Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, 2018) Vol. 10, No. 1. 127-8. 19 armies as the agents of God’s wrath, sent to symbolically kill this personified Spain, who, like

Christ himself, was later resurrected. Although in the case of Spain she was resurrected as an imperial, Roman-Germanic, version of herself through the efforts of Alfonso. And so, it becomes clear that the historical veracity of the collapse of the Visigothic Empire was of secondary importance to the ideology it helped create. The formalization of this ideology was not complete until the fall of Granada and the discovery of the Americas in 1492, but it was made possible, in large part, through a long historiographical project, which neither began nor was completed under Alfonso’s reign— a project which is, in some ways, ongoing. In the coming section the beginnings of this historiographical project will be investigated by examining the chain of

Castilian historians who recorded it.

2.3.2. A Brief Genealogy of the Legend of King Rodrigo and the Visigothic Empire

In investigating the chain of transmission by which Alfonso X inherited the historical foundations to create both the General Estoria and the Estoria de España58, we may better understand the purpose of each text. As previously stated, the ideology emphasized in Alfonso’s works has been traced back to the works of two other chroniclers, who I referred to as ‘proto- historians’59: Lucas de Túy, and Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada.

Lucas de Túy was a bishop of Túy in , which lies along the Portuguese border.

Before moving to Túy, he had been a deacon and a canon in León. However, his work within the church is of far less significance than his work as an author and historian. His most famous work

58 In the 1906 version of the Estoria de España, edited by Ramón Ménendez Pidal, the Estoria was given title of Primera Crónica General (this being a reference to an older composite edition of the work which bore the same title). Because of this, it is referred to as the Crónica General by many, and may be used interchangeably. 59 This term is not intended to undermine the legitimacy of their work, but rather to emphasize the ideologically-charged nature of their work. 20 was the Chronicon Mundi, which is deeply influenced by the historiographical works of Saint

Isidore of Seville60. It has been shown that the work of Lucas de Túy influenced that of Alfonso

X61, and Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada (who wrote at only a slightly later date than Lucas) as de

Rada reproduced some of Lucas de Túy’s minor works, including an account of Louis VII of

France on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, almost verbatim in his own histories62.

Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada was an archbishop, a historian, and a confidant to king

Fernando III. His most important work, De rebus Hispaniae, chronicles, in the historiographical tradition, from Genesis to the most recent historical event of note, in Jiménez’s case, the Christian conquest of Córdoba (1236)63. De rebus Hispaniae is largely understood to have been a continuation of the historiographic works of Lucas de Túy64. Like Lucas, de Rada was deeply indebted to the “school of Iberian historians of Visigothic times, especially Isidore of

Seville”. For de Rada, this influence is most evident in the Historia Ostrogothorum and the

Historia Hunnorum, Vandalorum, Suevorum, Alanorum, et Silingorum65. However, it is also of note that the story of Rodrigo and Julian is “substantially embellished” in de Rada’s iteration in the De rebus Hispaniae. This embellished version was the one which was reproduced by Alfonso in the Estoria de España66.

60 “A world chronicle in form, the work largely follows for the earlier period and only with the fourth book, which covers the time from the Muslim invasion of 711 down to the recapture of Córdoba by Fernando III in 1236, is of independent interest” Reilly, Bernard F. Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia, 1st ed., ed. E. Michael Gerli, “Lucas of Túy” (London: Routledge, 2003) 519. 61 Linehan, History and the Historians of Medieval Spain, 385. 62 Ibid. 63 Reilly, Bernard F. Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia, 1st ed., ed. E. Michael Gerli, “Jiménez de Rada, Rodrigo” (London: Routledge, 2003) 441-442. 64 Other works of de Rada’s, such as his Historia Arabum are not known to have any “known precursors in Christian Iberia”. Ibid. 65 Ibid. 66 Kinkade, Richard. Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia, 1st ed., ed. E. Michael Gerli, “Rodrigo, Legend of the Last Visigothic King” (London: Routledge, 2003) 711. 21

Both Lucas de Túy and Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada were deeply influenced by the works of

St. Isidore, who was the seventh-century archbishop of Seville. Isidore of Seville the last of the

Church Fathers, and by some accounts, the “last scholar of the ancient world”67, was of such monumental influence in the creation of the Castilian-Catholic ideology of Spain, that it will be covered separately from this synopsis of the transfer of knowledge. Of note, are the works De

Laude Spaniae which is found within the larger Gothic historiography called the Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum68. However, the analysis of his influence of the works of Alfonso X will be reserved for the next section, so as not to stray from the genealogy at hand.

It was not until the Crónica de 1344 that the saga of Rodrigo as the seducer of Julian’s daughter, finally took shape69. This account was highly influenced by the Crónica del moro

Rasis, authored by the Córdoban historian Ahmad al-Razi70. Again, the legend was mythologized further, this time in the Crónica sarracina by Pedro de Corral, and from here it was assimilated

“as a historical source” in the Atalaya de las crónicas (c.1453)71. Finally, in 1592, with the literary construction of the count Julian’s daughter as “Florinda la Cava,” the legend of the last

Visigothic king of Spain had reached its “factitious extreme” in Miguel de Luna’s ironically

67 Montalembert, Charles F. Les Moines d'Occident depuis Saint Benoît jusqu'à Saint Bernard. Paris: J. Lecoffre, 1860. 68 This work will simply be referred to as the ‘History of the Goths,’ or the ‘Historia Gothum,’ from here on out. 69 Before this time, the blame was not always placed squarely on the shoulders of king Rodrigo. For example, in most prior accounts to this, including Alfonso X’s, there is ambiguity in the language describing Rodrigo’s actions. That is not to say he is absolved of guilt in the earlier accounts, but his transgressions are usually not emphasized— they are usually only mentioned. Whereas the actions of Count Julian, specifically his collaboration with the invading armies, is touched on numerous occasions, and he is characterized as “[el] traydor Julian” in Alfonso’s Prosa historica. Note that ‘traydor’ is the old Castilian spelling of ‘traidor,’ which is the modern Spanish cognate of the word ‘traitor’. Alfonso X. Prosa histórica. 4th edición. Letra Hispánicas, ed. Benito Brancaforte. (Catedra Madrid, 2011): 93-5. 70 Kinkade, Richard. Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia, 1st ed., ed. E. Michael Gerli, “Rodrigo, Legend of the Last Visigothic King” (London: Routledge, 2003) 711. 71 Ibid. 22 named La verdadera historia del rey don Rodrigo compuesta por Abulcácim Tárif Abentarique

(The True History of King Rodrigo Composed by Abulqasim Tárif Abentarique)72.

In contrast to the Castilian account of events, it was once commonly believed, and well recorded by Islamic historians, that the conquest of Constantinople would only be achieved via al-Andalus73. For example, al-Tabari records CaliphʿUthman ibn ʿAffan as having said: “…Only through Spain can Constantinople be conquered. If then you conquer (Spain), you will share the reward of those who conquer (Constantinople)”74. This same sentiment has been echoed by other medieval historians, and yet it is King Alfonso’s version of history which became embedded in the national historical memory of Spain. To the Spanish people of today, this conquest is not often understood to be a part of the larger campaign of taking the Byzantine capital of

Constantinople, but the imperial desire to take it had occupied the Islamic imagination since the formation of the Ummayad Caliphate under Mu’awiyah I. This is evidenced by the unsuccessful siege of Constantinople that Mu’awiyah led, with the conflict beginning in earnest in 674, and lasting into 678. However, through the historiographic practices of ‘proto-historians’ such as

Alfonso el Sabio, and his ideological predecessors, and through the mythological structures created in literature, the narrative of Spanish history has been rewritten. This was no accident

72 Patricia E. Grieve, The Eve of Spain: Myths of Origins in the History of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Conflict (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009), 26 Kinkade, Richard. Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia, 1st ed., ed. E. Michael Gerli, “Rodrigo, Legend of the Last Visigothic King” (London: Routledge, 2003) 711. It is also worth noting that by the 20th century this narrative had evolved even further, with the publication of Ménendez Pidal’s seminal work of Hispanic history: the Historia de España. In the fourth volume of this history in it, he writes of the “unfortunate girl” (Florinda la Cava) who will have to bear the weight of the “loss of Spain”. This weight, is later defined as the “responsibility” for the “evils” that overtook Spain “from the day [it] fell into the hands of the Muslims”. For more on this, see Maura, Juan F. Legend and : Allegories of the Defeat at La Malinche and Florinda "La Cava" (Espéculo: Revista de Estudios Literarios, 2003) vol. 23. 1-7, and, Pidal, Ramón Menéndez. Historia de España. (Espasa-Calpe, S. A., 1956) vol. 4. 73 Fernández-Morera, Darío. The Myth of Andalusian Paradise (Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2016) 264. 74 al-Ṭabari, Abu Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarir The History of al-Ṭabari. ed. Ehran Yar-Shater. trans. Franz Rosenthal. (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989): vol. 15. 22. 23 either, for as will be demonstrated, it has afforded various groups a great deal of political power to do this. For Alfonso el Sabio, this was an integral part of his imperial campaign— and the intellectual and cultural branches of this campaign were arguably the most successful.

Now that a proper genealogy of the Castilian narrative has been established, it would be worthwhile to investigate the ways in which it was utilized. One such example of this, is the representation of the as a glorious kingdom of high learning— as even being paradisiacal75. In the Estoria de España, it is written that:

“This kingdom was exalted in its nobility, ample in the abundance of all things, devout in

its religion, harmonious and united in the love of peace, made illustrious and pure by the

teaching of the councils (of Toledo) (…); and by the great virtue of the priests that there

were (…) and by the holy bishops Leander, Isidore, (…) Taion of Saragossa; and by the

excellent school of high philosophy that was in Cordova76

Except, this characterization of the Visigothic kingdom is difficult to recreate in the historical record. For example, this “school of high philosophy” in Cordoba is virtually unknown to history, outside of this reference and one other from the 14th century, which alluded to the school in order to mock it77. Inconsistencies such as these highlight an important theme: the role of sourcing in historiographic argumentation. For in both the General Estoria and the Estoria de

España, Alfonso’s translators used mythological and biblical sources, such as ’s

Metamorphosis as historical sources. In doing so, Alfonso blended the line between them all, and created a new orthodox Catholic mythos for his Castilian empire. This mythos deliberately draws

75 Castro, The Structure of Spanish History, 61 76 appears in: The Structure of Spanish History by Américo de Castro (61). This translation is derived from the aforementioned edition of the Primera Crónica General, edited by Ménendez Pidal. 77 “Sidnoius Apollinaris alludes to a famous Cordovan school about which I possess no further information: Corduba praepotens alumnis (see E. Pérez Pujol, Historia de las instituciones sociales de la España goda, 1896, III, 490-491” quoted in Castro, The Structure of Spanish History, 61 24 lines between the Visigothic Hispania of Saint Isidore and the Christian Kingdoms of the mid and late Middle Ages78. This narrative intentionally vilified the Islamic empire’s expansion into the Iberian Peninsula, and downplayed the roles and influences this period had on the cultures and languages of the Peninsula. The intention of this historiography was to create a hegemonic

Catholic-Castilian culture which was loyal to the Castilian identity above any other regional identities (Leonese, Galician, etc.). The quotation above is merely one example of many events, occurrences, persons, or elements which are untraceable in either the histories of Alfonso’s direct predecessors, or, in the works of contemporary philologists and historians. Some have scapegoated the poetic source materials which were incorporated into these works, but this explanation is far too convenient, and fails “to allow for the possibility that these compilers may actually have been conscious of what they were doing and that the version of the past which they disseminated may have been inspired by purposes and objectives of their own”79. In this case,

Linehan uses the coronation of Alfonso VII as described in the Estoria to highlight both the absurdity of a de facto reliance on an unidentified80 poetical source, and the potential political reasons for doing so. In the case of Alfonso VII’s coronation, Alfonso X crafted a new version of events, which differed significantly from most other contemporaneous accounts81. The significance of this rests in the way in which the account was altered. In the accounts of the

Lucas de Tuy and Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada, and in all likelihood, Alfonso crowned himself82.

That is to say, he was not crowned by somebody else, or some entity. In fact, his son However,

78 Castro, The Structure of Spanish History, 62. 79 Linehan, History and the Historians of Medieval Spain, 463. 80 On this, Lineman also notes that the sourcing of the Estoria de España’s account of Alfonso VII’s coronation has been attributed to this unidentified source by such preeminent philologists as Ramón Ménendez Pidal in his work Imperio hispánico (157-8). Linehan, History and the Historians of Medieval Spain, 463. 81 Ibid., 464. 82 Ibid. 25 in the narrative of the Estoria de España, Alfonso X chose to delineate from the accounts of his predecessors, and instead of coronation ceremony wholly controlled by archbishops, bishops, and abbots—all “under the leadership of the primate of Toledo ‘by whose blessings the crowning had to be performed’”83. These prelates then prepare the imperial regalia, bless the crown and the king, and anoint him as emperor by placing the crown atop his head. This seemingly insignificant detail appears to be an overt attempt to court favor with the church— by elevating the role of the church and its ministers, so that it was the church that delegated the sovereignty of

Castile, Alfonso was intentionally ingratiating himself with the politically powerful bishopric of

Toledo. For the diocese of Toledo had taken the side of the nobles in the aforementioned dispute between Alfonso X and his nobility. And if Alfonso was ever to receive the support of the pope in his bid for the Holy Roman Empire (which he did not) he would need the support of the hugely influential bishopric of Toledo. Ultimately though, Alfonso was successful in his rewriting of history, for the Estoria’s “version of the coronation of 1135 proved definitive. Its inclusion in the official record ensured that thereafter it passed for history”84. And although it did not go unchallenged, this narrative has survived “more or less intact to the present day,” in large part due to its canonization by Ménendez Pidal85.

By no means is the example of the coronation an isolated incident— rather it is part of a much larger goal, namely the reorientation of Castilian identity so as to be unified via their perception of a shared Gothic-Roman heritage. And, given that it was the expansion of the

Islamic empire into the Iberian Peninsula that replaced the Visigothic empire, this cultural identity (which would not fully form for hundreds of years after the invasion began in 711) was

83 Ibid. 84 Ibid. 85 Ibid., 465 26 naturally also reified against Islam. If we understand the Prosa Histórica and the Estoria de

España to be the seminal works in the formation of the Castilian identity which invents, and then exalts, the Reconquista and rejects any notion of an ‘Islamic Iberia,’ than we can presumably identify the instances in which the historiography is manipulated in order to form the foundations of this new ideology. This mechanism of identification will be expanded upon in the following section, where the metaphorical death and rebirth of Spain in Alfonso’s historiographical works will be deconstructed.

2.3.3. Paradise Lost

The story of the fall of Spain, as described in Alfonso X’s historiographic works was an established narrative tradition already present in the corpus of Hispanic historiography before its inclusion in the Prosa Histórica and the Estoria de España. This section will investigate its origins in Visigothic Spain, before building in the genealogy outlined in the previous section. It is here that the works of Saint Isidore of Seville will briefly be considered, strictly through translation. Finally, the prosaic style and tone of the Prosa Histórica and the Estoria de España will be analyzed and compared to their ideological predecessors.

The elegiac tradition which personifies a hegemonic Catholic Spain in literary and historiographic works was born from the heretical crisis that plagued Visigothic Spain in the fourth and fifth centuries. At this time, the Gothic nobles and governors had not yet converted to

Catholicism, and instead subscribed to the Arian creed86. However, the Hispano-Roman peoples the Goths ruled over were divided along religious lines themselves. Nobles and urban

86 Edwards, John. Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia, 1st ed., ed. E. Michael Gerli, “Heresy” (London: Routledge, 2003) 385. Arianism is a non-Trinitarian, and therefore heretical (after 325), doctrine of Christianity which asserts that Christ was the son of God but which rejected the idea of the hypostatic union. Instead Arianism asserts that the Son of God did not always exist, and that he was begotten in time. 27 demographics were overwhelmingly Catholic, whereas the people who inhabited rural areas remained largely pagan. Admittedly, this style of writing histories had predecessors in even earlier Hispanic historiographies, such as those by Paulus (d. 418), but before Arianism arrived on the Iberian Peninsula, this narrative took on a new political ideology.

It was not until Bishop Leander of Seville87 convinced the Gothic king Recared (reigned

586-601) to convert to Catholicism that this schism in the Hispanic population was bridged. This decision was then codified at the Third Council of Toledo in 58988. In the minutes of the Third

Council, king Recared is recorded as having said either “for all the time that the error of the

Arians has prevailed in Spain,” or “for all the time that Hispania has suffered (for all the travails she has suffered) for being in the error of the Arians”89. In the case of the second translation

(which was intended by its author to stand as a correction to the first) we see Hispania assigned female pronouns, and being the subject of much suffering for her heterodoxy. This a very early example of that which will be the subject of this section: the theme of personifying a Catholic

Spain as having suffered, or died, because of the presence of non-Catholic peoples in her lands.

True, this narrative is built upon the established tradition of elegiac historiographies which existed on the Iberian Peninsula since Roman times, which was predominately derived from the works of Roman historiographers, such as Pliny and Pacatus— but at the Third Council a profound shift in ideology occurred, and with it a distinct change in this narrative. For, before

87 Saint Leander of Seville was the older brother of Saint Isidore of Seville, and held the office of archbishop of Seville immediately before Isidore. 88 Edwards, John. Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia, 1st ed., ed. E. Michael Gerli, “Heresy” (London: Routledge, 2003) 385. 89 The original Latin from the minutes of the Council are as follows: “Non credimus vestram latere sanctitatem, quanto tempore in errore Arrianorum laborasset Hispania”. The first translation was completed by Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo; the second, by Américo Castro. Both referred to above appear in: Castro, The Structure of Spanish History, 61 28 this, the dialogue which eulogized the idea of ‘Mater Hispania’ was not a vehicle through which polemic against heretics, and later, Muslims, could be delivered.

The next major Hispanic historiographer to employ the elegiac tone who will be considered is Saint Isidore of Seville. Saint Isidore is considered to have been the single most important intellectual figure in the process of “achieving religious and political unity” after the conversion of the Goths90. He wrote polemical works, works on numerology, spirituality, and more, but the works which are of interest to this argument are his historiographical works. That being the first part of the Historia Gothum, called the De Laude Spaniae.

In the De Laude Spaniae, St. Isidore paints a picture of seventh century Visigothic

Hispania that is paradisiacal, one which is “not so dark as it is usually said to be”91. And in so doing, St. Isidore set the stage for the creation of an idealized version of Spain which would later be recalled by Christians seeking to reconquer the peninsula92. This idealization of a personified

Spain is apparent from the start, as the De Laude Spaniae begins thus:

“Of all the lands that extend from the west to India, thou are the fairest, Oh sacred

Hispania, ever-fecund mother of princes and peoples, rightful queen of all provinces,

from whom west and east draw their light. Thou art honor and ornament of the world, and

the most illustrious part of the earth; in thee the glorious fecundity of the Visigothic

people takes much delight and flourishes abundantly.”93

90 Wright, Roger. Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia, 1st ed., ed. E. Michael Gerli, “Isidore of Seville, St.” (London: Routledge, 2003) 431-432. 91 Castro, The Structure of Spanish History, 73. 92 Ibid. 93 Ibid. Translation by Américo Castro. 29

The image of Spain depicted by St. Isidore here is Elysian, to say the least. In its fecund fields lie the fertile breeding ground for new generations of rulers94. And Isidore implies, that from these rulers will flow the means for Spain’s own “subordination” and autonomy95.

In De Laude Spaniae, there are also lengthy descriptions of Spain’s fertility, fruit and grain, fish, and her rich mineral wealth96, which are significant because they are later borrowed by Alfonso in the Prosa Histórica. However, these images are not only borrowed by Alfonso, they’re repurposed. For, these descriptions are also turned on their head, and even negated shortly after their iteration in Alfonso’s history. Thereby turning St. Isidore’s praises of Spain’s richness into lamentations of what she has lost. These lamentations are then used to decry the

Islamic occupation of the Iberian Peninsula, placing the blame for the loss of Spain squarely on the shoulders of the invading armies, and their Visigothic collaborators.

An example of this can be seen in the descriptions the introductory part of the Prosa

Histórica, titled the Estoria de Espanna97. This section begins with a genealogy of Alfonso X, and then establishes the historical and mythological foundations of Spain’s history. These foundations are overtly colored by Alfonso’s desire for his fellow to understand themselves as, and to be understood as, a Romanized people. The creation of this new

Romanized history, and the image of a personified Spain, are agents of the hegemonic conquest

Alfonso was engaged in as a part of his bid to be Holy Roman Emperor. We see this quite clearly at the end of this first section, where the fall of Visigothic Spain to the invading Islamic armies is

94 Merrills, A. H. History and Geography in Late Antiquity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975) 196 95 Ibid. 96 Ibid., 188. 97 Not to be confused with Alfonso’s other historiographical work, the Estoria de España, which is also referred to as the Primera Crónica General. The title Primera Crónica General is used to refer to the edition of the Estoria de España that was edited and compiled by Ramón Menéndez Pidal. 30 described. This construction is quite intentional. For example, before the above-mentioned sins ascribed to Count Julian, King Roderic, and Florinda la Cava are described, the Iberian Peninsula is characterized as “the paradise of God”98. And, in line with the Genesis narrative, Alfonso’s mythologized history goes to great lengths to separate this romanticized past from the punishment of the sins the Visigoths incurred. This ‘punishment’ being the Islamic conquest of

Spain, and the settlement of Arabic and Berber peoples on the peninsula. The following translations of parts of the Prosa Histórica will demonstrate this sentiment, which first exalts

Spain as an idyllic land, not unlike the Garden of Eden, and then laments the destruction of the personified Spain after the arrival of the Islamic empire in 71199:

“Spain abounds with harvests of grain, the sweetness of fruits, the copiousness of fish,

the flavor of milk and all of the things she has; shelter for cattle, the vigor of horses, the

benefit of mules, safe and good castles, happiness for good wines, (…) richness of

metals, of lead, of tin, of mercury, (…), of silver, of gold, of precious stones, of all of the

life of marble stones and the salt of the sea and the salt deposits of the earth and the salt

in rocks, and the many other miners (…); pride of sirgo100 and of what is made, sweet

honey and coach, lighted wax, full of oil, the cheer of saffron, (…)”101.

Notice the emphasis that both Alfonso and St. Isidore place on Spain’s natural resources. Such rich descriptions could just as easily describe the biblical Garden of Eden. And this was intentional— Alfonso employed this rhetoric as an attempt to politically unify the Christian kingdoms against the Islamic taifa kingdoms. The political undertones of this rhetoric recall the

98 Alfonso X, Prosa histórica, 95. 99 Translations are my own unless otherwise noted— bracketed words have been added in for clarity, and italicized words have been glossed, but left untranslated. 100 ‘Sirgo’ refers to a type of fabric made from, or styled with, silk. 101 Alfonso X, Prosa histórica, 95. 31 achievements of Alfonso’s father, Ferdinand III, as he had unified Castile and León for the first time in nearly a century and conquered a fair amount of land from the taifa kingdoms. Ideas such as these were the sources of the aforementioned ‘light’ that the Reconquista sought to recover, especially when formatted as lamentations for an idealized past. We see this after the Visigoths are defeated, and Spain is “lost” to the “Moors102” and the “Africans”, this characterization is the subject of much lamentation103. This version of Spain is understood to have died and it aims to evoke a sense of loss for a time which never existed:

“Miserable Spain! So miserable was her death that she not only did not finish but no one

stayed to her; they call her the dolorida104, already more dead than alive, and her voice

sounds like the other race, and her word comes out as if it were earth, and she said with

grand account: you, men, that you pass through the chase, stop lying and see if he has a

pain that resembles mine. Painful is the weeping, (…), Spain cries for her children and

cannot be conquered because her people are not. Their houses and their dwellings all

barren and unpopulated; his honor and his glory is twisted in confusion, his sons fell

captive to something, the princes and the high men gone, those who were formerly free

were then turned into servants (…), and the good combatants lost themselves in

extremity. (…) What malady, or what storm, does not happen in Spain?”105

In this characterization of Alfonso’s, it is important to note that Spain died with the invasion of

“vile Africans”106—a clear reference to the predominately north African forces Tariq ibn Ziyad

102 While the use of the term ‘Moor,’ and its derivatives, are commonplace in the field of medieval Iberian studies, I have chosen to avoid it where ever possible. When it does appear, it is because the source which is being quoted has used it. 103 Alfonso X, Prosa histórica, 97. 104 A literal translation of ‘dolorida’ would render Spain as being referred to as the “sore one” in this instance. Another viable translation would be the “the pained one”. 105 Alfonso X, Prosa histórica, 97. 106 Alfonso X, Prosa histórica, 97. “La uil yente de los affricanos (…)”. 32 commanded when he invaded al-Andalus. This comment was also intended to demonize the

North African people who were to come to Spain in the years following Tariq’s invasion. What’s more, is that Muslims of al-Andalus, who, in time, would become Spaniards in their own right, are scapegoated for Spain’s misery. And this is not an isolated incident. We see a similar sentiment in Primera Crónica General107, referred to above as the Estoria de España:

“This kingdom, so noble, so rich, so powerful, so honored, was over-thrown and brought

down in an outburst among the inhabitants of the land, who turned their swords against

one another, as if they were lacking in enemies; and in this they all lost, for all the cities

of Spain were captured by the , and were ruined and destroyed at the hands of her

enemies… Wretched Spain! her death was so hastened that there was no one left to

mourn it; they call her the afflicted one, more dead than alive”108

Here, in separate historiographical work commissioned by Alfonso el Sabio, we see the repetition of a handful of themes: the misery, and eventual death of the personified Spain, the lamentation of her loss, and the centering of the blame on the Islamic conquest. And while the

Visigoths do shoulder some of the blame in both texts, we see here that the finger is being pointed predominantly at Muslim Spain.

Alfonso utilized this narrative in an attempt to unify the politically fractured Christian kingdoms against a common enemy. The Visigothic world from which Christian Spain emerged

“was left bleeding and in a state of collapse under the Moorish tidal wave”109. In this universal

107 The title Primera Crónica General is typically reserved the for the edition of the Estoria de España which was edited and collated by Ramón Ménendez Pidal. This version included manuscripts which are not considered to be a part of the original work anymore. Typically, the historical title Estoria de España is used. However, in this case, the author whose translation I am reproducing has used Pidal’s edition as his source text, and I believe this should be reflected in the title used. 108 Castro, The Structure of Spanish History, 75. 109 Ibid., 77 33 historiographical narrative, there is a distinct appeal to the past. For, just as Visigothic Spain collapsed, it was simultaneously on its way to establishing political and religious unity across most of the Peninsula110. And a united vision of Visigothic Hispania was very much what

Alfonso hoped to reproduce not only in Christian Spain, but in all of the Holy Roman Empire.

And while he was not successful in either of these goals, he laid the foundations from which others built. These were the ideological apparatuses that underscored the Reconquista; this deep drive to consolidate political power through cultural hegemony was reborn in each phase of the

Inquisition, and each wave of expulsions of minority religious communities. It is in this way that the act of historiography becomes an industry— as the purpose of these histories was to legitimate the political and ideological circumstances of their present; to make their political realities seem like the culmination of a long-standing prophecy.

2.4. Section Conclusion

The idea of the personified Spain having died with the Islamic conquest has been incorporated into much of mainstream Spanish historiography and philology, and has become a de facto history for many, both within and even outside the Iberian Peninsula. And the purpose of this chapter has been to outline the historiographic, literary, and ideological antecedents for what has been an enduring, and ultimately successful, effort to re-characterize Spanish history as being exclusively Christian. The next chapter will focus on one of the ways in which this historical narrative became the political reality of the present. This hegemonic Catholic narrative is an ideological reconstruction of the Medieval Iberia which aims to create a national identity that is designed to serve the Alfonso’s empirical ambitions. In next chapter, the ways in which

110 Ibid., 78 34 the historiography of the Poema de Mio Cid, and by extension the prevailing narrative of the

Reconquista, have been legitimatized, and utilized by politicians in the modern era, will be investigated.

3. Introduction to the Cid

The third section of this essay will be centered on the Poema de Mio Cid111; a Castilian epic poem which is a foundational text to the hegemonic Catholic ideology that exalts the

Reconquista. The historiography of this work will be presented and analyzed, for it is worth investigating how and why the protagonist of the Poema, Rodrigo Diáz de Vivar, was incorporated into the general history of Spain. Then, the role of philology in the creation of the hegemonic Castilian national identity will be examined. The reception of the philological work of Ramon Menéndez Pidal will be considered throughout, as will the literary and historical constructions which have since formed around this epic. The appropriation of these symbols and constructions by the Franco dictatorship will also be studied. And lastly, the exaltation of the

Reconquista in modern conservative political discourses in Spain will be presented for review.

3.1. Fact and Fiction in the Historiography of the Cid

111 The title of the first epic written in Castilian is translated literally as the ‘Poem of the Cid’, although the usage of this title, as opposed to the Cantar de Mio Cid (the ‘Song of the Cid’) is a hotly debated topic in and of itself. The term ‘Cid’ is a name the historical Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043-1099) acquired while in the service of Yusuf al-Mutaman ibn Hud (d. 1085) as a leading figure in the army of the Taifa of Saragossa. It is likely derived from the Arabic honorific title of ‘al-sayyid’. Also, a date is not listed here because there is also great debate over the year of composition of the earliest manuscript of the Poema. There is also disagreement about whether this manuscript represents the first composition of the work, or if it is a transcription. This has led to serious questions being raised over the authorship of the work. For reference, the dedication is written in the manuscript as so: “Per Abbat le escrivo en el mes de mayo | en era de mil e.cc xlv anos.” Ramón Menéndez Pidal has argued that there was once another ‘c’ in the dedication, and that the date of publication should instead be 1307, as opposed to the 1207 listed in the manuscript. And while I am not presently inclined to believe Dr. Pidal’s argument, I have little evidence to the contrary. For more on this, see: Lineman, Peter History and the Historians of Medieval Spain (Oxford, 1993) 319-320. 35

The early biographies of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, who will also be referred to as the Cid, were written within half a century of the Cid’s death, and had “either first-hand or, at least, other authoritative knowledge of his life”112. Of these biographers, there are two distinct camps: the

Muslim mudéjar historians who were characterized by their “Cidophobia”, and the Castilian

Christian, or Mozarabic, chroniclers, who maintained a deep admiration for the Cid113.

In the years following the death of the historical Cid, Ibn Alqama, a Valencian mudéjar, detailed the invasion of Valencia and its subsequent governance under Rodrigo Diáz de Vivar.

His text, is incomplete however, and only appears to us through later Christian sources114.

Around the same time, Ibn Bassam, wrote the work The Treasury concerning the Merits of the

People of Iberia115. Here, Ibn Bassam, like his predecessor, took a hostile position and tone in his biography, but unlike Ibn Alqama, he was not “incapable of admiring the points of this ‘dog of a

Galician’”116.

Among the Christian accounts from the earliest period of biographers, by far the most important was Historia Roderici, written in Latin by a cleric who was in all likelihood a

Mozarab. This biography appeared before July of 1110, and provides what appear to be first- hand accounts of the authors travels to Zaragoza and , and a level of detail unparalleled by other contemporaneous accounts117. It would also become a key source in the accounts of the

112 Pidal, Ramón Menéndez The Cid and his Spain trans. Sunderland Harold (Butler & Tanner, 1934) p. 3 113 Ibid., 3-4 114 Ibid., 3. 115 Ibid., 4. Please note that the title has been translated from Arabic. However, Menéndez Pidal’s translation has proven unreliable and instead the translation of the title reproduced above comes from a separate source. Note the differences between these two translations. Pidal translates Ibn Bassam’s title as The Treasury of the Excellences of the Spaniards, whereas Ross Bran translates it as The Treasury concerning the Merits of the People of Iberia. See, Brann, Ross Power in the portrayal: representations of Jews and Muslims in eleventh- and twelfth-century Islamic Spain (Princeton University Press, 2002) 116 Pidal, The Cid and his Spain, 4. 117 Ibid. 36

Cid in Alfonso’s Estoria de España118. In this work, Alfonso includes a biography of the Cid and his accomplishments on the battlefield, thereby securing his position as a hero in Castilian history.

About half a century after the creation of the Historia Roderici the historicism concerning the Cid changed dramatically. Beginning with the universal history of the Cronica Najerense, dated originally at 1160119, and more recently to 1173120, the history of the Cid began to be combined with ballad poetry. In the creation of the Cronica Najerense, a precedence was set for future historiographers. No longer was the history of the Cid strictly a historical account, for it had now taken on a poetic persona. It was to be the subject of epics and ballads alike. As Pidal put it: here, the “waters from the sources of history and epic poetry unite[d] to form one stream”121. The Cronica Najerense would also prove a hugely influential source for later Iberian universal histories, such as Lucas de Tuy’s Chronicon Mundi and Rodrigo of Toledo’s De rebus

Hispaniae122. Additionally, Alfonso el Sabio’s Estoria de Espana also contains a biography of the Cid, and in it are large reproductions of the text of Cronica Najerense123. The result of this history of transmissions was the creation of a new image for the Cid. This quasi-historical representation of the Cid became infused with Castilian ideology in the second half of the 12th century. And this ideology was defined as much by its Catholicism as by its anti-Islamic sentiment. It also created a “halo of hero-worship” around the Cid, creating a schism between the historical Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar and the character that the Cid had become124.

118 Ibid., 6. 119 Pidal, The Cid and his Spain, 6. 120 Juan A. Estévez Sola (ed.), Chronica Hispana saeculi XII, Pars II: Chronica Naierensis, Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Medievalis, LXXI A. Turnhout: Brepols, 1995. 121 Pidal, The Cid and his Spain, 6. 122 Ibid. 123 Ibid. In the instances where sections of the Cronica Najerense were lifted and reproduced in the Estoria de Espana, the content was translated from Latin into Castilian Romance. 124 Ibid. 37

In a way, the creation of the Cronica Najerense proved to be a turning point. The idea of the Cid was charged with an ideology that would be reproduced, and built upon, for centuries.

And the integrity of the historicity of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar was supplanted by the literary creation his biography inspired. At this point, it mattered not that the historical Cid likely killed as many Christians in the service of the Taifa of Saragossa as he did Muslims in the service of

Alfonso VI125 (reigned 1065-1072 as king of León, and 1077-1109 as dominator Hispanie or

Emperor of all Hispania)— the embellished biography of the Cid would inevitably become a hero of the faith and a figure of veneration in Castilian history. The character of the Cid would soon take on a life of its own, such that El Campeador126 came to represent the idealized image of a knight in Spain. In the following sections, the ways in which this image was utilized in historiographical and political contexts will be reviewed.

3.1.1. Contextualizing the Poema and the Reunification of Castile

Here, a truncated review of the relationship which occupies the plot of much of the Poema de

Mio Cid will be provided. This refers to the tumultuous relationship that Alfonso VI held with his vassal Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar before the events of the epic take place.

Alfonso VI’s father, Fernando I (d. 1065), is given the title ‘el Magno’ (the great) because he united the kingdoms of Castile, León, and Galicia under one kingship. However, “by dividing the realm [upon his death] among his heirs he sowed the seeds of future discord”127.

Sancho II was given the , Alfonso VI that of León, and their youngest brother

125 Hughes-Hallett, Lucy. Heroes: A History of Hero Worship (New York, NY: Knopf Doubleday Publishing, 2010) 126 From Latin campi doctor or campi doctoris. This honorific means ‘master of the battlefield’ and was bestowed upon Rodrigo de Vivar while in the service of Sancho II for his remarkable military successes. 127 O’Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain, 198. 38

García the . Additionally, the daughters of Fernando I, Urraca and Elvira were both granted a single township. Urraca, who was the eldest of all the siblings, was granted the town of Zamora, and Elvira the town of Toro. Both Sancho II and Alfonso VI had aspirations of consolidating the entire realm under their own leadership, and Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar was the chief military commander of Sancho’s army128. The armies of Sancho II defeated those of his brother Alfonso twice in as many years, and after the second defeat, Alfonso was expelled from his own kingdom and fled to Toledo. By 1072, Galicia had also been incorporated under

Sancho’s reign, and Elvira’s town of Toro fell easily to Sancho’s forces. All that remained was

Urraca’s Zamora, whose fortifications were able to stall Sancho’s offensive, which was led by the Cid. Here, Sancho II met his end. After agreeing to a meeting with the noble Vellido Adolfo of Urraca’s court, he was murdered by Adolfo. Some author’s claim Urraca sexually manipulated the noble into killing Sancho, while downplaying the incestuous rumors which accused Urraca and Alfonso VI of loving each other as more than just siblings129. Others authoritative figures subscribe to this theory of incest as motivation for the killing130. Either way, the result was the same, for Sancho II had died without leaving an heir. As Urraca could not legally lay claim to the kingdoms of her brother Sancho, Alfonso VI, the next oldest male heir, inherited his kingdoms.

The source of personal conflict between Alfonso and the Cid emerged at this same time, and originated from a conflict the Castilian nobility (who were directed by the Cid) led before accepting Alfonso as their king. The nobility was generally suspicious that Alfonso was complicit in the killing of Sancho II, and required Alfonso to publicly “exculpate himself” before

128 Ibid., 200 129 Catarella, Teresa. Doña Urraca and her Brother Alfonso VI: Incest as Politics. (La corónica: A Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, 2007) Vol. 35, No. 2, 41. 130 O’Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain, 200. 39 the St. Gadea’s Church in Burgos131. He did so, and the Cid joined the service of Alfonso VI.

However, relations between the king and his new vassal were never “cordial”, as the Cid would soon be released from his service, and eventually exiled, by Alfonso132.

Following this, the Cid travelled to Barcelona to offer his services, but was refused. He then entered the service of Yusuf al-Mu’taman ibn Hud as a distinguished leader in the military of the

Taifa of Zaragoza. At some point between 1086 and 1087, Alfonso recalled the Cid from his exile and he was readmitted into the king’s service133. It is at this point that this truncated review of the historical events leading up to the Poema de Mio Cid ends, and the review of the philological study of the text begins.

3.2. On the Philological Roots of Nationalism: A Case Study of the Cid

Now that the historiography of the Poema de Mio Cid has been established, and its narrative has been contextualized in medieval history, it is time to consider some of the effects of this historiography on modern philological works. And, through this, we will consider the ways in which works of philology may affect the present day. The intent of this case study in the Cid is to demonstrate how the study of medieval literature, more broadly, is significant for the inhabitants of the modern world. Yet, even this descriptor of ‘medieval literature’ is insufficient here; for as has just been established, El Poema de Mio Cid is a work born of both fact and fiction.

We must also consider the development of epistemology since the Middle Ages, and the cleaving of knowledge into discrete disciplines. The modern reader is likely to distinguish between the veracity of a historical work versus one of literature— but such presuppositions did

131 Ibid. 132 Ibid. 133 Ibid., 209 40 not exist in medieval Europe. And even within the more empirical discipline of history, there still remains an “inexpungable element of interpretation”134. Furthermore, we must understand that the ideological foundations of national identities are formed by the combination of the historical with the mythological— and that literature is often one of the primary vehicles through which this act is facilitated. These literary foundations, which consist of shared symbols, ideals, causes, traditions, and more, can be utilized by the state to promote nationalism and nationalist causes135.

This then allows the interpretation of medieval texts to enter the political sphere, specifically when it is co-opted for nationalistic purposes. The act of interpreting history is a powerful way in which the medieval affects the political and cultural realms of the present day. Which is why

“[p]hilology, since the beginning of the nineteenth century, has served as the hand-maiden of nationalism, helping to create maps of cultural difference that often overlapped with the political boundaries of emerging states and cultural regions,”136.

This is especially true in the context of the — as the ideological apparatus of the state relied heavily on an essentialist understanding of medieval Iberian history in order to promote its particular blend of Catholic nationalism and Castilian hegemony. The work that the philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal has produced, both in matters of history and literary studies, have been hugely influential— and yet both are subject to a significant amount of “Castilian- centered linguistic and historical interpretive paradigms”137. The effects of this assumption of

Castilian hegemony are present in Pidal’s translation of El Poema de Mío Cid, as well as the historiographic La España del Cid. Both are concerned with promoting a hegemonic

134 White, Hayden. Tropics of Discourse: Essays in Cultural Criticism, (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978) 51. 135 Breuilly, John Nationalism and the State (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1982) p. 344. 136 Hess, Steven. Ramón Menéndez Pidal: The Practice and Politics of Philology in Twentieth-Century Spain ed. E. Michael Gerli (Hispanic Review, 2016) Vol. 84 No. 4. p. 472. 137 Ibid. 41 interpretation of medieval Iberia in their own ways, and this is often accomplished by excluding other aspects of Iberian history. However, to pretend that this is a new phenomenon would not tell the whole story. For, some texts which predate Pidal by many centuries have had shared ideological goals with Pidal’s works. Notable examples of this include the mythologized histories commissioned by Alfonso el Sabio discussed in previous sections, and the biblical universal histories created by his ideological predecessors. His historiographical works, as well as those that preceded it, attempted to re-write the history of Iberia, and replace it with a hegemonic Castilian narrative, which emphasized a shared Hispano-Roman heritage (vis á vis the Visigoths) and rejected the legitimacy of the legacy of Judaism and Islam on the peninsula.

To some extent, similar ideological goals can be ascribed to the historiographic works of Pidal.

Lastly, this essay will briefly explore the modern implications of the promotion of this hegemonic ideology in the context of the ideological apparatus of the Francoist state.

3.2.1. Castilian-centralism in the Historiography of the Cid

One of the best documented, and most interesting, instances of Pidal’s hegemonic bias occurs in the first two stanzas of his transcription of El Poema de Mío Cid. This refers to Pidal’s choice to famously include two lines, which do not appear in the Per Abbad manuscript138. The lines in question are as follows: “Mas a grand ondra / tornaremos a Castiella”139. In these two lines, Pidal expresses an idea which roughly translates to “but with great more honor / we will return to

Castile”. The validity of this insertion, on the part of Pidal, is part of a larger argument over two

138 The assumption that the Poema begins with the first pages of the Per Abbad manuscript presents its own problems, as there are other ballads and lyrics which describe aspects of the plot which are left unexplained in the Per Abbad manuscript. That being said, even if (possibly) incomplete, it is the oldest extant manuscript of the Poema, additions to this manuscript by its translator present a serious question of authority. 139 Armistead, S.G. Cantares de gesta y crónicas alfonsíes: Mas a grand ondra / tornaremos a Castiella, (Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas, 1986) Actas IX. p.179. 42 schools of philological thought, that of neo-traditionalism and that of neo-individualism. And while there is a discussion to be had about the validity of these two lines, which are concordant with the anisosyllabic assonant schema of the epic, there is, in my opinion, a more important conversation to be had about the significance of the presence of these lines at all. For it is in this addition that Pidal made obvious his hegemonic Castilian paradigm. For, regardless of whether or not the line was a later addition that was eventually included into the source text it derived from, Pidal’s job as a philologist was to understand, and to be able to situate, this text within the medieval Iberian literary tradition. However, either through sheer ignorance of the anachronisms that the inclusion of these two lines posed (both within the plot of the text, and in the biography of the historic Cid), or, through a deliberate attempt to promote a nationalist ideology through philological scholarship, Pidal chose to include them. And since I am inclined to believe that

Pidal was not likely to be ignorant of effects of his actions, the latter of these seems most plausible. It matters, not only because it ignores the narrative presented in the cycle of ballads

(which, are not included in Per Abbad’s manuscript, but which explain how the Cid came to be the recipient of Alfonso’s ire), but also because this addition of a hegemonic Castilian narrative came to play a role in how it’s narrative was used for different political ends by two heads of state who were separated by many centuries: Alfonso X, and . In the case of

Alfonso, this was likely done in an attempt to promote a Castilian-centric narrative as a means of unifying the whole of the Iberian Peninsula (and ideally, the whole of Christendom as well) under his Christian crown. In Pidal’s edition of Alfonso’s work, referred to as the Primera

Crónica General, we see almost an exact match for the phrase Pidal’s added to the opening of the Cid:

“Another day came for the Cid of Vivar and all of his company, and some [of them] 43

suggest to collect [also, consult or perceive (of)] the augury, then taking leave of Vivar

who had the proper [also, fortunate (within the context of an augury)] crow, and those

sinister ones incoming from Burgos who then told him and his knights ‘Well, by the way,

we shall return to Castile with great honor and great reward [also profit, or, more literally,

gain], if God wills it.’”140 .

Here, the same phrase which Pidal inappropriately inserted into the text of the Cid appears, albeit in a reversed order: “que tornaremos a Castiella con grand onrra”. And while this may have been an appropriate interpretation of Alfonso’s work, given his imperial aspirations and domineering cultural presence, it is a rather telling inclusion in a translation of the Cid. Given that it has been established that this phrase was not present in the manuscript attributed to Per Abbad141, it appears instead to function as a continuation of St. Isidore of Seville’s tradition of eulogizing the personification and presentation of Spain as an individual to whom one may ascribe feelings, such as happiness, despair, or, in this case, honor. Specifically, Pidal’s insertion functions as a

“utilization of the eulogy as stimulus for further action to spur the preservation of glory and honor”142. For, while it is Castile that is named in this excerpt, Castile clearly functions as a synecdoche for the entire kingdom—in much the same way that the word ‘crown’ is often used to refer to a medieval kingdom. This synecdoche is of the Pars pro toto, or “part (taken) for the

140 Translation my own. The original Castilian is as follows: Otro dia salió el Cid de Viuar con toda su companna, et dizen algunos que cato por agüero, et saliente de Viuar que ouo corneia diestra, et a entrante de Burgos que la ouo siniestra, et que dixo entonces a sus amigos et a sus caualleros: ‘bien sepades por cierto que tornaremos a Castiella con grand onrra et grand ganancia, si Dios quisiere’. Armistead, S.G. Cantares de gesta y crónicas alfonsíes: Mas a grand ondra / tornaremos a Castiella, (Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas, 1986) Actas IX. p.177 141 Armistead, Cantares de gesta y crónicas alfonsíes, 179. 142 , Cayetano J. Socarras. Alfonso X of Castile: A Study on Imperialistic Frustration (Barcelona: Sololibros, 1976) 19. Maravall, José A.: El concepto de España en la Edad Media (Madrid, 1954), p. 13-14. 44 whole”, variety, in which only a single part of a larger entity is used as a substitution, or a stand- in, for the entire object.

Now, the presence of Castilian nationalism in the context of Alfonso’s 13th century texts is interesting, but hardly surprising. What is surprising is how Pidal’s choice to rely on sources like Alfonso’s Estoria de España when translating the Per Abbad Manuscript became relevant, convenient even, to the hyper nationalistic military ideology of the Franco regime. For, the symbols of the “Castilian Heroic Age”, of which the Cid is an integral part, provided an ideological basis for the Catholic nationalism which characterized the Nationalist’s agenda. This is significant because the divisions of the Spanish Civil War were drawn along both political, and religious, lines— where “the true Catholic Spain” was that of the Nationalists143. Dissent from this religio-political alignment was not tolerated by the uncompromising Nationalist ideology either, as the 1936 execution of 16 Basque priests who were known to have political affiliations with, or sympathies for, the Basque liberation cause demonstrates144. And while this atrocity was immediately protested by the Archbishop of Toledo145, it underscores how Catholicism was co- opted by the Nationalists for political reasons146. And so, to return to the role of Pidal, regardless of his personal political affiliations, his works was instrumental in establishing the rigidly autocratic, even dictatorial, brand of philology which was to be embodied by the Catholic nationalism of Franco’s Falangists147. For Catholicism only constituted a part of the hegemonic

143 Payne, Stanley G. The Franco Regime 1936-1975 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1987) 199. 144 Ibid., 200. 145 Ibid., 199. 146 Basque autonomy, which is the issue at the heart of its nationalist movement, has historically both supported (Carlism), and opposed the Castilian crown at different times. The Basque national identity has famously resisted most attempts at integration into the hegemonic Castilian mode, most famously during, and immediately following, the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. However, there were other periods of time were the Basques, especially those geographically located closest to the former , supported the central Castilian powers and their agenda. 147 Hess, Ramón Menéndez Pidal, 473. 45

Castilian identity which was imposed by the Nationalists— culture, language (specifically the

Castilian tongue), and literature were also important facets of this identity. In the next section, the centrality of literature, and specifically the Cid, in the construction of Franco’s image will be reviewed.

3.2.2. Espéculo Literatura: Didacticism and the Example of the Cid

In order to understand the powerful influence that the idea of the Cid had on the creation of Franco’s image of himself and his cause, it is important to first understand the role of didactic rhetoric in the development of Spanish literature. Didactic literature is instructive by nature, and aims to impart morals, or lessons of philosophy. A famous example of this would be Aesop’s

Fables, or the Aesopica. And many of the formative Iberian works of poetry and prose that were written in Romance used this form, or had elements of didacticism incorporated into their narratives. Examples include Los Milagros de Nuestra Señora (The of our Lady) by

Gonzalo de Berceo, Libro de Alexandre (Book of Alexander), Libro del Caballero Zifar (Book of the Knight Zifar), and Libro de Conde Lucanor (The Book of Count Lucanor), among others148. Works such as these often employed formulaic linguistic, or narrative, constructions which then triggered the reader’s memory of the moral, or lesson, in question. The clearest example of this is present in the structure of ’s Libro de Conde Lucanor149, in which each chapter (excluding the prologue) follows a similar pattern. First, the Count puts a

148 Both the Libro del Caballero Zifar and the Libro de Conde Lucanor are known to be partially influenced by Arabic literary sources. Given the ancient Greek origin of didacticism (from didaktikos), its presence in the Arabic literary tradition via the Arabic translation movement. 149 The Libro de Conde Lucanor is only one of the accepted titles given to this work. Others include Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio (Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio) and El Conde Lucanor, Libro de Patronio (Patronio’s Book: The Count Lucanor). It was first written by Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena in the first half of the 14th century, but was not published until 1575 in Seville. Also, it is worth noting that Don Juan Manuel was a nephew of Alfonso el Sabio’s. 46 problem to his advisor Patronio, who then, with the utmost humility, tells a story to the Count that reminds him of the issue at hand. The chapters then conclude with Patronio advising the

Count to act similarly to the protagonist of the story he just related. In this way, each chapter serves as an example, not only Count Lucanor, but to the reader as well. In so doing, didactic literature creates a mirror between the fictive events of narrative, and the lived experiences of its readers. Because of this mimesis between literature and reality, it has been hugely influential in the development of both the literary and cultural spheres of Spain.

So, just as the tales of the past are recounted by the advisor to the count in the Libro de

Conde Lucanor, in order to offer solutions to analogous issues which occupied the count, so too did the Franco regime recall a historical construction to justify its cause. In El Poema de Mío

Cid, the “Campeador”, in his quest to conquer all of Spain, is carrying out the imperial destiny of

Castile with patriotism and fidelity— and it is these ideals that the caudillo150 wanted directly reflected in his mission151. In both cases, the primary actor responsible for this crusade is not the literary, nor the historic, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar. Nor is it solely the work of Francisco Franco— as both have historically deferred responsibility for their respective conquests to the will of a higher power: namely, an explicitly Christian God. We see this in El Poema when the capture of

Valencia, the last stop of the Cid’s campaign and the so-called ‘Pearl of the Mediterranean’, is characterized as such:

150 Caudillo (from Latin capitellum, diminutive form of caput, meaning ‘head’) is a title which has historically been used by military leaders who also wielded political power in Spain, and the Spanish American colonies, and is somewhat synonymous with descriptors such as strongman, dictator, Duce, or Füher. This title was famously adopted by Francisco Franco (1936-1975) during the Spanish Civil War. The roots of caudillismo in Spain and Spanish America can be traced to “the framework of rule in medieval and early modern Spain during the Reconquest from the Moors”. For more on this, see Morse, Richard M (1954). "Toward a Theory of Spanish American Government". Journal of the History of Ideas. 15:71, reprinted in Hamil, pp. 72–86. 151 Lacarra, María Eugenia. The use of Cid de Menéndez Pidal in the Francoist military ideology, (Ideologies and Literature, 1980). Vol. 3, No. 12, 106-7. 47

“To you I humble myself, dame! Grand prize I have won, you having Valencia, and I

having won the battlefield; this that God willed with all of his holy saints when in your

return such gains (also, earnings) we were given”152

Taken alone, it is possible that this similitude was merely a coincidence, but there are more reflections between the caudillo and the Cid than their shared religious zeal. There is a similarity in the path of their conquests, as the route of the Cid and the Spanish Civil War both concluded with the capture of Valencia. The importance of this, lies in the symbolism Valencia held as a lasting stronghold of the ideology of those being conquered: in El Poema de Mío Cid, Valencia was home to the Taifa of Valencia, which was supported militarily by the Almoravid Caliphate in Morocco, whereas in the Spanish civil war, Valencia was the final outpost of Republican control, and even drew comparisons to the route of the Cid contemporaneously153. It is worth noting that a similar sentiment to that which was expressed by the Cid in the above quote was also expressed by those who were openly espousing the ideology of Catholic nationalism on behalf of the Nationalist movement. One example of this comes from the 1938 International

Eucharistic Congress in Budapest, where Cardinal Gomá said:

“Let us give thanks to God that he has willed to make of Spain a Christian people from

the heights of [state] power. This is declared, moreover, by the new legislation of the

state, informed by Catholic spirit in its broad trajectory.”154

152 Original Castilian is as follows: “¡A vos me omillo, dueñas! / Grant prez vos he gañado, / vos teniendo Valençia / e yo vençi el campo; / esto Dios se lo quiso / con todos los sos santos / quando en vuestra venida / tal ganançia nos an dada.” Anonimo. Poema de Mio Cid. Edición Colin Smith (Letras Hispánicas, Oxford University Press, 2016). 1748-1751. 153 Saracino, Pablo Enrique. La Edad Media en el arte postal franquista: de la Guerra Civil a la “Transición”. (Revista de Literatura y Cultura Españolas, 2014). Vol. 15, no. 22. 154 Iglesia, Estado y Movimiento Nacional, 35-7. Quoted in: Payne, Stanley G. The Franco Regime 1936-1975 (University of Wisconsin Press, 1987) p. 207. 48

In both instances, it is the will of God, and not the historical actors, which is held responsible for the triumph of the Christian forces over the Muslims, or the communists. And in both instances, these sentiments arise out of overt expressions of Catholic nationalism. Or, put another way, this perception of moral superiority, and divine authority, which features prominently in the ideology of the earliest extant work of Spanish literature, was often employed by the Nationalists, in order to promote their overtly traditionalist regime. Through many centuries, this has remained a powerful narrative to the people of Spain— even to those who opposed the totalitarianism of the

Falange.

In the public image of General Franco there are also a multitude of purposeful, and direct, references to the Cid. As has been noted previously, the character of the Cid has been interpreted significantly differently by various authors over time, and it was from the most imperialistic and antagonistic interpretations that the caudillo styled himself after. After Franco launched his insurrection against the Spanish government, the general received excited support from the first editorial of a journal called Mio Cid. It was published in Burgos, a town which is deeply associated with the Cid, and it urged people to support Franco’s cause and “[to raise] the standard of the Cid throughout Spain”155. He himself claimed, as did many of his supporters, that he embodied the spirit of the Cid in the 20th century156, and he utilized the idealized spirit of the

Reconquista as a driving force for his campaign, first against the state, and then against dissidents and critics of his regime. And when Franco entered Madrid after declaring victory in the civil war, he issued a press release which declared his entrance to the capital would “follow

155 Hughes-Hallett, Lucy. Heroes: A History of Hero Worship (New York, NY: Knopf Doubleday Publishing, 2010) 156 Ibid. 49 the ritual observed when Alfonso VI, accompanied by the Cid, captured Toledo”157. And at the end of his long military procession, Franco entered the cathedral of Santa Barbara, where he placed a sword on the high altar, following in the “tradition of the Cid Campeador after the liberation of Toledo”158. From then on, Franco ruled over Spain as if it was his personal kingdom, frequently deploying the imagery of an essentialized Reconquista in order to re- orientate the Spanish national identity.

3.3. Representations of the Cid: The Traditionalist Trope

Traditionalism has long been a persuasive argument for the people of the Iberian Peninsula, and this is likely because it is almost inseparable from the history of the on the

Peninsula. Therefore, there are documented instances where parties who were aligned with the

“civic-military movement” of Franco’s Falangists employed a traditionalist trope in their public endorsement of the regime, which contained a minor rebuke of the regime “as a form of government or as an end in itself”159. In a collective letter penned by the majority of Church leadership at the time, there is a vague allusion to the campaign and the spirit of Rodrigo Díaz de

Vivar’s representation in literature in the following excerpt:

“With respect to the future, we cannot predict what will take place at the end of the

struggle. We do affirm that the war has not been undertaken to raise an autocratic state

over a humiliated nation but in order that the national spirit regenerate itself with the

157 Ibid., This is likely not historically correct. There is one legend that claims that Alfonso was accompanied by the Cid at Toledo. Either way, it is the symbolism behind of Franco’s message that is most important here. It should be noted that the Cid was never present for this, as he was still in in exile and serving the Taifa of Saragossa. 158 Ibid., Note, that Franco employs the idea that Islamic Spain was being occupied by invading forces here when he claims that Toledo was liberated by the Christians. Here he is intentionally denying the idea that these peoples had settled on the Iberian Peninsula, created their own culture and language, and after nearly 800 years on the Peninsula were as much Iberian peoples as their Christian counterparts. 159 Payne, The Franco Regime, 202-3. 50

vigor and Christian freedom of olden times. We trust in the prudence of the men of

government, who will not wish to accept foreign models for the configuration of the

future Spanish state but will keep in mind […] the path marked by past centuries.”160

In this, like in the work of Pidal, we see a “lesson in conformity to the state and compliance with authority”161. The sway that traditionalism and historical memory hold over the body politic can be very powerful. For even in dissent from Francoism, we see an exaltation of the Reconquista and an acceptance of “a hegemonic imposition of the Spanish Metropolis with Castile at its core”162. This ideal is grounded in the medieval struggle for power by two religiopolitical entities present on the peninsula, and it was imbued with a hegemonic Castilian and Catholic ideology when it was recorded in literature. Pidal’s work as a philologist, and his work with the text of the

Cid especially, have informed the role of the Cid’s appropriation in the modern era.

Symbolism is an essential ingredient in the organization, and promotion, of nationalist causes. This is because symbols can provide a common language for otherwise disparate peoples to be unified by, even if this unification is implemented in a top-down fashion by an ideologically motivated apparatus163. Up to this point, this paper has only considered the role of literary symbols, and their reflections in the modern day, but there have been appropriations of the legend of the Cid in the state sponsored visual culture of both Alfonso X, and the Francoist regime. And yet, considering that they were both engaged in civil wars and ideological struggles to establish a hegemonic Spanish identity, it isn’t so surprising they would utilize similar tools in their efforts. In the case of Alfonso X, he commissioned the creation of images which depicted

160 Gomá, Pastorales. Quoted in: Payne, Stanley G. The Franco Regime 1936-1975 (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1987) p. 203. 161 Lacarra, The use of Cid de Menéndez Pidal in the Francoist military ideology, 106-7. 162 Hess, Ramón Menéndez Pidal, 473. 163 Saracino, Pablo Enrique. La Edad Media en el arte postal franquista: de la Guerra Civil a la “Transición”. (Revista de Literatura y Cultura Españolas, 2014). Vol. 15, no. 22. 51 the evacuation of Muslim forces as they fled from the recently conquered Valencia, presumably to Morocco164. Historically, this was a brief victory, as the Taifa of Valencia would trade hands many times over the coming decades, and would come under Islamic control again beginning in

1145 and this would last until 1241. However, the presentation of the victory, and of the opponents escaping in defeat is a powerful image which would come to inspire other rulers who looked back to the Castilian Heroic Age in order to institute a hegemonic identity of rigidly

Catholic, and nationalistic, values. The projection of strength in these images was obviously appealing to the caudillo, as he incorporated them it into the series of stamps which were first issued after the Battle of Badajoz (1936) to symbolically establish the existence of the “two

Spains”165. And although the purpose of the series of stamps shifted to be more geared towards everyday official use, they would retain the theme of representing the Castilian Heroic Age visually until the transition to democracy166. Furthermore, the use of the images of the Cid and

Queen Isabel within the context of these postage stamps amounts to an overt allegiance with the ideals of Catholic nationalism167. The graphic representations of the Cid are also interesting, as the first (in order of reproduction in the attached figure, not necessarily in order of publication) depicts a profile of the Cid where he is dressed in his full war regalia. The second depicts him as he is memorialized in Anna Huntington’s 1929 Monumento al Cid Campeador, which is located on the Avenue of the Cid in Seville. The final two both depict the Cid’s final resting place, and

164 See Figure 1. Image originally appears in the Manuscript of the Cantigas de Alfonso X, and are reproduced in: Pidal, Ramón Menéndez. The Cid and His Spain. trans. Sunderland, Harold (Butler & Tanner Ltd., 1934) 1st ed. p. 374. 165 This was primarily a symbolic gesture. Saracino, Pablo Enrique. La Edad Media en el arte postal franquista: de la Guerra Civil a la “Transición”. (Revista de Literatura y Cultura Españolas, 2014). Vol. 15, no. 22. 166 Ibid. 167 The reign of the Catholic Kings was also appropriated by Franco precisely because of it nationalist profile. Part of their imagery (the bundle of arrows) was on the escutcheon of the Falange. Ibid. 52 are also meant to martyr his legacy as represented in the epic poem168. The stamps mentioned here only make up a fraction of those which were published with a similar intent, and the stamps as a whole only represent a single manifestation of Franco’s nationalistic ideological apparatus.

3.3.1. Nostalgia for a Mythologized Past in the Present

In order to better understand the use of the simplified Reconquista narrative in modern political discourse, it would be helpful to briefly review how Spain’s understanding of the

Reconquista has been shaped by the great nationalist historian Ramón Menéndez Pidal. Such an understanding of history rests on the assumption that there is an implicitly Christianized soul of

Spain, which is discrete, and able to be tracked back to the Roman era169.

The esentialized Reconquista narrative was not born out of Pidal’s work alone, but his position within the Spanish Academy and society lent tremendous authority to this interpretation.

In The Cid and His Spain Pidal paints a very simplistic image of Muslim-Christian relations in medieval Spain. In this conception of things, “the Islamic States in Spain had no political feeling to unite them (…)” and that “the states of the North, in spite of their rivalries, fostered the ideal of a united Spain, which sustained (…) their efforts”170. This is an obvious gross oversimplification of the Islamic Spain to anyone familiar with the complexity of social relations in medieval Iberia, but most importantly, this interpretation was to become the master narrative of Spanish history. Pidal’s may not have intended for his work to be used in this way, but it became fundamental to the creation of an ideological historical narrative that pitted Islamic

168 See Figure 2. Image originally appears in Saracino, Pablo Enrique. La Edad Media en el arte postal franquista: de la Guerra Civil a la “Transición”. (Revista de Literatura y Cultura Españolas, 2014). Vol. 15, no. 22. 169 Catlos, Brian A. Infidel Kings and Unholy Warriors (New York, NY: Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2015) 72 170 Pidal, Ramón Menéndez. The Cid and His Spain, trans. Harold Sunderland (London: Butler & Tanner, 1934) 40. 53

Spain against Christian Spain. His authority allowed for the creation of the theory of their being two discrete in medieval Iberia. This was further legitimated by his active belittling of the role of Islam in the development of Spanish culture, as we see here:

“Western civilization was more pronounced in the North of the Peninsula than Eastern

civilization was in the South, which will be proved by the events of the eleventh century.

The belief that Arabic influence prevailed over the whole of Spain, or even over all [of]

Al Andalus, is quite erroneous”171.

Pidal also goes on to claim that “The Moslem characteristics, so often stressed in history, actually left little impression on the Caliphate of Cordova”172. The influences of Islamic culture on the , and on Spanish architecture, literature, and culture are too long to list, but it matters little, as the co-opting of Pidal’s ideological historical reviews was ultimately successful. He not only effectively reoriented the Cid into the Christian hero he is today, he also reoriented the narrative of the Reconquista into the simplified historiography partially reproduced above.

The ramifications of Pidal’s historiography are manifold. However, one area in which the simplified Reconquista narrative described by Pidal is often employed is in the realm of politics.

For this understanding of history is a foundational part of the conservative ideology in Spanish politics. Even before Franco, the right had been married to the Catholic Church, and ideologically attached to the cause behind the Reconquista, and their matrimony is as strong today as ever.

The most significant invocation of the essentialized Spanish historiography for political aim came directly from the former head of state, between the years of 1996-2004, and president

171 Ibid., 41. 172 Ibid. 54 of the Partido Popular (PP), from 1990-2004. Throughout his career, José María Aznar often disparaged Isalm, and exalted the Reconquista, in his efforts to shape Spanish national identity as irreconcilable Islam and Islamic culture. For example, at a speech at Georgetown University,

Aznar explicitly defended the Reconquista in response to a question about the 2004 Madrid Train

Bombing when he said the following:

“The problem Spain has with Al Qaeda and Islamic terrorism did not begin with the Iraq

Crisis. In fact, it has nothing to do with government decisions. You have to go back no

less than 1,300 years, to the early eighth century, when a Spain recently invaded by the

Moors refused to become just another piece in the Islamic world and began a long battle

to recover its identity. This Reconquista process was very long, lasting some 800 years.

However, it ended successfully.”173

At other times has also said that he believed that the Islamic world should apologize for having conquered Spain and that Spain is a nation “made against Islam”174. Unsurprisingly, Aznar has cited Menéndez Pidal as one of the most influential in the formation and support of his nationalist historiography175. These ideals are not unique to Aznar either, as these anachronistic ideas of the middle ages, and of the role of Islam in Spanish history, are baked into the ideology of the Partido Popular. This is a prevailing view among many Spaniards today, for this anti-

Islamic bias has been naturalized into larger conceptions of European identity as well. And their interpretation of Spanish historiography is the result of the acceptance of Menéndez Pidal’s

173 García-Sanjuán, Alejandro. Rejecting al-Andalus, exalting the Reconquista: historical memory in contemporary Spain (Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, 2018) Vol. 10, No. 1. 133. 174 Aznar, J. Ma. Seven Theses on Today’s Terrorism (lecture Georgetown University, Georgetown, Washington DC, September 21, 2004). 175 García-Sanjuán, Alejandro. Rejecting al-Andalus, exalting the Reconquista: historical memory in contemporary Spain (Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, 2018) Vol. 10, No. 1. 134. 55 alternative historical narrative. However, the process which Menéndez Pidal championed began long ago. Pidal was only a torchbearer, carrying on the ideological mission that had been passed down to him through the ages by the likes of Alfonso el Sabio and St. Isidore of Seville.

4. Conclusion

Since the middle of the thirteenth century, with the writing of the many volumes of the

General História, the historiography of Spain has been used as a tool to build nationalist sentiment on the Iberian Peninsula. More broadly speaking though, philology is no stranger to the politics of nationalism. In Spain, it is the conservative perception of historical memory that uses philology in order to reject Andalusi history. And instead of promoting a historiography that retains its fidelity to the history, and material culture, of Islamic Spain, the PP relies on the works of nationalist historiographers like Menéndez Pidal to legitimatize their particular strain of

Catholic nationalism. For this reason, there should be a greater emphasis placed on scholars involved the relevant fields to provide refutations to the various aspects of the distorted perception of history that are used by the PP to exalt the ideals of the Reconquista. The reason for this is not to promote a specific political ideology, but rather to disseminate a more accurate account of the history of medieval Iberia. Such a request is made all the more urgent given the alarming resurgence of popular support, and veneration, for Francisco Franco and his fascist regime.

56

Figures

Figure 1:

Figure 2:

57

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